The Sixth Global Environment Facility (GEF) Assembly and Associated Meetings will take place in Da Nang from 23 to 29 June with the paticipation of nearly 1,500 delegates from its 183 member countries to share ideas, solutions and action needed to protect the global environment.

Hilda Heine, President of the Marshall Islands, and David A. Grainger, President of Guyana, will speak at plenary sessions as will Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile and José Maria Figueres, former President of Costa Rica.

They will be joined by environment ministers from all around the world and leaders of UN Agencies and multilateral financial institutions including UN Development Programme, UN Environment, Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; as well as top business leaders, scientists and NGO leaders.

Vietnamese Prime Minister, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who will deliver the Welcome Speech at the Opening Ceremony on 27 June, said that the Assembly “is an occasion for nations as well as individuals to join hands and to act to realise our shared aspirations for a resilient, sustainable and life-affirming planet”.

Naoko Ishii, the GEF's CEO and Chairperson, called the gathering “a unique opportunity to help make a safer, more secure and more liveable planet”.

The Vietnamese Minister for Natural Resources and Environment said that the 6th GEF Assembly will also convey a message of Vietnam’s strong commitment to sustainable development, especially in delivering on international commitments on environment to which Vietnam is a member. It will also offer Vietnam a chance to foster bilateral and multilateral cooperation, seek opportunities to receive financial and technological support, and strengthen capacity in the fields of climate change response, biodiversity, chemicals, land degradation, sustainable forest management, popularisation of Vietnamese tourism, culture and people.

Apart from the plenaries there will be roundtable discussions on: Food, Land Use and Restoration; Sustainable Cities; the Blue Economy; Partnerships for Implementing the 2030 Agenda; Science-based Targets for Earth; the Circular Economy; Marine Plastics; Sustainable Landscapes in the Amazon and Congo Basin; Wildlife; Gender and the Environment; Innovation in Clean Energy; Conservation Finance; and Sustainable Drylands.

The GEF Assembly will be preceded by the Constituency Meeting and Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel Meeting on 23 June. Following that will be the 54th GEF Council Meeting from June 24 to 26, and both the 24th Least Developed Countries Fund/Special Climate Change Fund Council Meeting and a Civil Society Forum on June 26. Visits to GEF projects surrounding Da Nang will take place on 29 June.